Bears keys to the game

Matt Trowbridge

Sunday

Dec 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 27, 2009 at 3:17 PM

Matt Trowbridge breaks down the Bears-Vikings

Hold Vikings to field goals. Playing it safe has often gotten Chicago into trouble, but Minnesota is too diversified to shut down. “We had a pretty poor showing the last time we played them,” linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said. “They pretty much moved the ball at will.” The Vikings had a whopping 537 yards in that game, but Brett Favre has struggled in December. If the Bears can tighten down inside the 20, they can tempt Favre into mistakes.

Make AP cough it up: Hillenmeyer stripped Adrian Peterson twice in the first game and the Bears recovered once. Peterson and Favre are the two most dangerous Vikings, but also the two that can get most flustered by mistakes.

Don’t be stupid: If Jay Cutler has another two-interception game, the Bears are toast, period.
Play hard and don’t go down easily. Dome teams don’t like the cold, so make the Vikings feel every hit. Minnesota also missed a slew of tackles last week, so Chicago should be prepared to run through arm tackles. Teams that run harder on offense and wrap up better on defense win in cold, snowy weather.